We’re still in transition; things will get better in 2020 – NPP on Afrobarometer report

The governing New Patriotic Party, in the wake of the Afrombarometer report in which many Ghanaians expressed dissatisfaction with the country’s economic situation, has assured things will get better in 2020.

Communications Director of the party in an interview with Joy News’ Kwesi Parker Wilson said, things only seem difficult because of the measures government has had to put in place to stablise the weak economy it inherited from the previous administration.

Yaw Buaben Asamoa said “what they [Ghanaians] are seeing now is a lag effect of the transitional policies because we are in transition. We inherited an economy which was under stricture, we inherited an economy which we had to recover, restructure, restore to good health. Because if you don’t have an economy in good health, you cannot progress the economy.

“…we had to take dramatic decisions, decisions that were necessary to restructure and rebuild this economy and the impact of those decisions are the ones that are being felt now,” he added.

In the latest Afrobarometer report put together by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) six in 10 Ghanaians (59%) say the country is “going in the wrong direction.”

The share of citizens who see the country as “going in the right direction” declined by 15 percentage points from 2017 to 35%.

Only three in 10 Ghanaians (30%) describe the country’s economic conditions as “fairly good” or “very good,” a modest decline from 35% recorded in 2017.

But Mr Buaben Asamoa does not think the government is doing a bad job.

He acknowledged the Akufo-Addo administration has had to take unconventional decisions in a bid to salvage the economy which has made things difficult but is convinced that the economy will take a good turn and Ghanaians will feel the needed relief.

“For many rating agencies and observers, we are on track. If we were not on track, the IMF [International Monetary Fund] would not have left. When we were inheriting the economy, the IMF refused to go because there was a fundamental deficit which had to be addressed, the financial sector crisis.

“In addressing that crisis, you have a lag and a knock-on effect and that is being felt now but as it settles down and the over four million people whose deposits have been protected begin to have access to their deposits again…you’ll realise that this interregnum is just a passing phase,” he assured.